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Saturday, April 04, 2009

Obama and Nuclear Weapons

Good news is hard to come by, and so we should be warmed by today's account in the Guardian of Obama's new offensive against nuclear weapons. True, he is only aiming for a 1/3rd reduction, which would still leave the world with 16,000 of these insanely destructive devices, but we should be grateful for small mercies.

It is odd that the drive against nuclear weapons is happening at the top level, (Obama and Kissinger) and that the popular calls for nuclear disarmament are so muted. Bruce Kent spoke at Trafalgar Square on Wednesday, but the media were almost entirely absent, with their cameras trained on some guy (was he an agent provocateur, or a sincere anarchist doing the police's work for them free of charge?) smashing an RBS window.

We should always remember that nuclear weapons policy is not just immoral, uneconomic and insane, it is also illogical.